Matt Wertz and Ben Rector

Singer/Songwriter

Matt Wertz is a singer/songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Wertz’s interest in music started when he was young, but it was his interest in visual art that led him to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he graduated with a degree in Industrial Design.

Wertz grew up wanting to be a shoe designer, but when he started writing songs his freshman year of college, he realized that it was actually music that he wanted to pursue.

Cutting his teeth at Christian youth group Young Life concerts and tour dates with Jars of Clay, Wertz independently released Somedays in 2001, followed two years later by 23 Places.

In 2005 the EP Today & Tomorrow came out, and thanks to his constant touring, the singer, who had since moved to Nashville, was signed to Nettwerk Records. His album Everything in Between was issued in early 2007.

Under Summer Sun, featuring some new material as well as cuts off Everything in Between, followed in 2008.

Aside from touring with such acts as Jon McLaughlin, Jason Mraz, Jamie Cullum, Gavin Degraw, Matt Nathanson and Jars of Clay, he has headlined several tours nationally and his songs have been featured on shows like Brothers and Sisters and Wildfire.

He can also be heard in the movies Employee of the Month and My Super Ex-Girlfriend.

In November 2009, Matt announced on his website that he is no longer with Universal Republic and to celebrate, he began giving away a free album that had been recorded live at the Triple Door in Seattle on May 28, 2008, entitled “If It Ain’t Broke…”.

Sound Observations with Matt Wertz

By David Moye

You never really know your album until it’s out on the streets fending for itself.

That’s the lesson singer/ songwriter Matt Wertz has finally learned after the release of his fourth, “Weights & Wings.”

The record was released last month, but, only now, even after months writing and recording is he figuring what it means to him.

“It really takes an album’s release and being out there for you to learn how it is,” Wertz said. “You think you know a song, but you really never do until you see how people react.

“In fact, an album only gains value and solidifies itself as a body of work as it gets exposed to people.”

Wertz is coming to Anthology April 17 and he is excited to see how his fans in San Diego react to the new songs.

“[Anthology] is a different setting for us,” he said. “We usually play rock clubs and this is more of a listening club. We love it!

“But I am eager for people to know the songs more. Already, people are singing along — I’d say about 30 percent of them.”

He’s surprised at which songs are appealing to the fans. “The song from the new album that is rising to the top is ‘Someone Like You,’” he said. “I’m surprised because I wrote it seven years ago and it never made it on to an album until now,” he said. “I’ve scrutinized the song and the mix, but, after a while, you lose perspective.

“At one point, I had strong feelings about all of the songs, but then when you’re getting the album together, you start questioning everything until it’s released.”

“Someone Like You” had a seven-year gestation period, and while that’s long, Wertz believes songs need to breathe before they can be sung.

“It was difficult on this album, because, unlike previous recordings, I didn’t have the advantage of testing them in shows because I didn’t play that much,” he said. “So I didn’t know how they would connect. But they are!”

“Enter Nashville via Missouri singer Matt Wertz whose album… offers up folk poppy melodies that make me wish I had a car so I could play it loud with the windows rolled down or had plans for a trip to the beach…. Themes of love and love lost run throughout with sentimental tender breeziness reminiscent of early John Mayer and Howie Day.” –Blogcritics.org